


It Gets Lonely Early

by kristhaswaggerdaddy



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crack, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 21:10:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 19,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7729867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kristhaswaggerdaddy/pseuds/kristhaswaggerdaddy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jongin likes a dog more than its owner, but he changes his mind easily enough once he's sober.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. normally I don't say this but damn, you the best, best, best

**Author's Note:**

> Written for No One Dies This Time Kaisoo AU Fic Fest 2016!! 
> 
> That was a mouthful, lol.   
> Prompt Code: I59 
> 
> Title: It Gets Lonely Early 
> 
> Rating: pg-13 (for so called strong language) (amazing that this isn't nc-17 tbh)
> 
> Side pairings (if any): very mild hints of chanbaek 
> 
> Word Count: 19, 092 words 
> 
> Warnings: starts with drunk people and ends with drunk people 
> 
> AN: you guys have no idea how hard it was to keep this a secret on twitter omg. I secretly worked on this while pretending to lament over the fact that I couldn’t find time to write when in fact, I barely had time to write anything else because of this fic lol. I don’t know why I don’t have any self-control over word count like this is 19k of lameness, y’all. Also, this fic was named after a Frank Sinatra song :')

Kyungsoo tapped on his calculator, stopping short when the numbers appearing on the screen did not match any of the four objective choices. Heck, it wasn’t even close. 

He looked at his working on the scrap paper under his right hand, and then the question booklet propped up against the wall before him again. _Am I reading the wrong question?_  he wondered. No, it was definitely question fourteen, and he definitely wrote the equation correctly on his scrap paper. So what was up with the hiccup?

He squinted at his work, cocking his head to one side.

And as if someone popped Kyungsoo’s bubble, pounding music from outside suddenly reverberated through the window and Kyungsoo gave an incoherent shriek, throwing his papers into the air.

“Those _college boys_!” Kyungsoo wailed at no one in particular. This was the thousandth time he lost his focus tonight thanks to the repetitive, throbbing beats of some club song. Kyungsoo knocked his head on his wooden desk repeatedly, despairing on ever finishing his work tonight.

You’d think that after two in the morning, the college kids at their dormitory house would give their neighbours a break and cut the music off or at least turn it down a little, but _no_.

Nope. It was just after three in the morning now, and Kyungsoo was nowhere done with his work. Every time he came close to solving a question, the music would distract him and he’d lose his concentration and consequently his train of thought. It was disconcerting to say the least, and it was getting hard to focus when there was no peace and quiet.

And to think that he stayed in Seoul this weekend because he wanted to get away from his parents’ wedding anniversary party back home… If he knew those Seoul University fuckboys would be throwing their own rave dance party at their dorm just down the road, he would never have stayed. Might as well go home and face all his relatives and their probing questions.

If he had someone to do his assignments with tonight, it would probably distract him enough to get some of his work done but obviously, things weren’t working out to his advantage right now.   

Kyungsoo whimpered piteously, holding his head with his two hands. He was never going to get shit done at this rate. Sighing heavily to himself, Kyungsoo began to collect the papers on the ground and arranged them neatly together, placing it on his desk once more. Grabbing the question booklet from where he’d propped it up, he folded it roughly and slapped it over his things, getting up to go to the bathroom.

Even while washing up, he could still the music playing. Kyungsoo tried his best to tune it out and gritted his teeth till he was done in the bathroom, stepping out and flipping the light switch off. He scrubbed at his face with a hand tiredly, standing there at the hallway all by himself.

 _Wonder how Baguette is doing outside_ , Kyungsoo mused. Probably no better than him.

Baguette was his slightly overweight, mini Pomeranian with fur the colour of lightly baked butter biscuits who loved to sleep outside on cool nights like these. She never tried to escape, ever (she was too well fed for that), but Kyungsoo wouldn’t blame her if she ran away tonight to get away from the music.

Like, how long can you actually dance before you start to get tired? (Apparently, quite long.)

 _I’ll go check on her_ , Kyungsoo thought. He’d bring her in tonight, and let her sleep with him where the music wouldn’t be as loud as outside.

Padding over to the front door of his rented home, Kyungsoo could soon see shadows moving haphazardly across his front lawn. No doubt, it was probably the college boys wandering around the area drunk as hell.

Kyungsoo was willing to bet they came from a fraternity called Kappa Kappa Tau or something like that. _Predictable_ , Kyungsoo snorted, opening the front door. He never understood why those kind of boys loved to party so much; Kyungsoo barely had enough time to devote to his social life as it was. _How do they even get any work done?_ he wondered. It was a bloody mystery.

Peeking out, Kyungsoo immediately saw his neighbours from across the road standing by the sidewalk, a couple who were in their late fifties, bundled in their robes. They were probably about to go over to the dorm house to have a word with the party animals, judging from the angry expressions on their faces.

All Kyungsoo did was give them a weak wave. He didn’t want to go near any drunk boys, or girls, for that matter. Things had a tendency to get messy when there was a lot of alcohol involved.

Instead, he glanced at the porch, expecting to see Baguette curled up in her little dog basket but it was empty. Kyungsoo figured she must’ve wandered towards the side of the house away from the noise, where the grassy lawn curled in a U shape all the way to the back. He shuffled into a pair of flip flops and began to call for Baguette, albeit not too loudly since he didn’t want any noise complaints either.  

“Baguette?” Kyungsoo called and whistled as he walked onto the wet grass, footsteps muffled. No sign of his beloved mini Pomeranian bounding over the grass to greet him. “Baguette?” he tried again. Nothing.

“Ugh,” Kyungsoo groaned, walking all the way to the back of the house. It was pretty dark around the back since it was only an alleyway and nothing more. Plus, the lightbulb went out months ago and Kyungsoo never got around to replacing it… He was starting to regret that now; he hated the dark.

Steeling himself, Kyungsoo trudged forth, trying to make out the shapes in the dark. He could still hear the music from the dorm house, but it wasn’t as loud near the back.

Swallowing thickly, he stepped towards the washing machine (it was the only thing he could make out in the inky darkness) and called once more, in a very cautious voice, “Baguette?”

Kyungsoo suddenly heard familiar panting, and sighed in relief. “Oh for the love of God, Baguette, you were starting to make me worry—”

“Baguette is a kind of bread, isn’t it?”

Kyungsoo jolted, freezing in position at once. Last time he checked, Baguette couldn’t talk. Furthermore, she was a female dog and that voice didn’t sound like a bitch at all. It sounded like a man, and if Baguette was a werewolf why would she sound so masculine?

The panting stopped abruptly, and he heard scampering before Baguette burst out of the darkness, wagging her tail happily as she looked up at Kyungsoo. Frowning, Kyungsoo picked her up carefully, wondering if he’d imagined that voice.

“Baguette, were you talking to someone?” Kyungsoo asked her, petting her fur gently.

“Dogs are _so_ great,” the voice said again, and this time Kyungsoo was sure either someone was lurking in the dark, or his tool shed had come alive and was talking to him right now. He held Baguette close to his chest defensively.

“Who’s there?” he called. He didn’t sound very brave.

Some shuffling, the sound of bones cracking and the darkness began to move, materializing into the shape of a human. Kyungsoo cursed his astigmatism silently in his head; he couldn’t see for shit in darkness, and he wanted to know if it was a vampire or werewolf before he died. After all, he deserved to know what creature of the night was going to take his life, right?

Something clanged loudly to the ground. “Ah, shit,” the voice muttered, and Kyungsoo thought he saw someone attempt to pick the item up from the ground. “I dropped your— Your spade. Or something.”

Was it just Kyungsoo or did the voice actually sound… _drunk_? Could werewolves get drunk? Baguette whimpered briefly as if she knew what Kyungsoo was feeling, and he held her tightly in his arms.

Instead of a vampire, werewolf or zombie, a boy slowly stepped out of the darkness, hair tousled and eyes unfocused as he stared at Baguette. Perhaps stepping out was a kind way to put it though; to Kyungsoo, it looked more like the boy couldn’t balance his own weight on his long legs.

He had a face that Kyungsoo did not recognize at once; full lips, sleepy looking eyes, and sharp jawline. Kyungsoo had to take a deep breath to steady himself; this boy was obviously someone from the dorm house but _shit_ , nobody told him the boys from Seoul University looked _this_ good (and the guy was drunk. Who actually still looked attractive when they were drunk?) If it weren’t for the current state that they were in, Kyungsoo might’ve said he looked pretty sexy too.

“Dog,” the boy said bluntly, pointing at Kyungsoo’s pet.

“Pardon?” Kyungsoo said politely.

“ _Dog_ ,” the boy said, and this time he sounded petulant. Not knowing what else to do, Kyungsoo put Baguette down and the traitorous dog scampered back towards the drunken boy, who was obviously in his late teens or early adulthood.

This knowledge didn’t settle the lump in Kyungsoo’s throat though. Why the hell did he have to be so good looking? And why was he in Kyungsoo’s backyard? To become his hot gardener?

The boy got down on his knees to pet Baguette again, rubbing her behind the ears and running a hand over the fur on her back. She wagged her tail and looked like she was on the verge of purring for him, Kyungsoo had never seen her this happy for someone else. Baguette lost interest in people easily if they didn’t have any treats with them, but this boy was clearly quite the charmer.

“What the hell are you doing in my backyard?” Kyungsoo said to the boy, frowning at him.

It came out sharper than Kyungsoo intended, but he supposed it delivered the message well enough. The boy looked up at Kyungsoo, hands still petting Baguette lovingly. “Came t’ pet yer dog. Obviously,” he slurred.

No, actually. It was not that obvious at all, not on Kyungsoo’s part.

“Well, okay, but you’ve petted her enough already, I think, so could you please leave—”

“Do you have a bucket somewhere?” the boy cut him off with a light voice, gaze fixated on Baguette. Kyungsoo frowned at him.

First he broke into Kyungsoo’s property (though technically this was his landlord’s house but whatever), now he wanted something from Kyungsoo? “What bucket? Why do you need a bucket?” Kyungsoo asked, this time sounding well and truly turned off by this guy.

No sooner did he finish his sentence than the boy _puked_ right onto Kyungsoo’s lawn right at Kyungsoo’s feet, head lurching forward with the motion.

Surprised, Baguette yelped and ran away from the scene and rounded back curiously when the guy chortled and covered his mouth ( _super gross_ , Kyungsoo shuddered), swaying dangerously back and forth.

“Hey, don’t fall into your own mess—” Kyungsoo stepped forward instinctively to push the guy backwards and felt his foot sink into warmth as the guy flopped onto his back, lying on the grass. Kyungsoo looked down at his soiled, slippered (and therefore relatively unprotected) foot and croaked in disgust.

Baguette came dangerously close to the puke, and Kyungsoo had to shoo her away hurriedly, flailing his arms around as he tried not to slip on the guy’s gross regurgitated shit.

It was sort of slimy and slippery, and Kyungsoo could only imagine how difficult it was going to be to get back into the house. Then there was the guy to contend with; what the fuck was he supposed to do with a stranger lying unconscious on his lawn?

As if to rub it in, the guy started snoring lightly, and Kyungsoo ground his teeth together in supressed anger.

 

 

-

 

 

Jongin was awakened from his sleep when he jolted and fell off his bed, landing on the hard ground elbows first. He hissed, eyes popping open at once to grab at his elbows. He missed knocking his skull open by mere inches, and turned over to lie on his back with a groan. A headache throbbed painfully behind his eyelids as he made sure he didn’t just shatter his elbows into pieces.

A great start to his morning indeed; physical pain upon mental pain. The sour taste of vomit in the back of his throat didn’t help. And why the fuck was it so bright?

As his eyesight adjusted to his surroundings, he soon realized the angle from which the sunlight came in wasn’t right, since his window was usually a little off to his left and his walls weren’t white in colour. Unless someone came in and took down his roommate’s stupid posters, but that was unlikely.

It was far too quiet as well, enough so that he could hear the faint chirpings of a bird’s song from outside…

 _Did I die without realizing it?_ Jongin thought.

That would be great actually, because wasn’t heaven supposed to painless and hence, migraine-less? _Or did someone kidnap me?_ Jongin frowned belatedly. Just as his confusion was starting to give him a hard time, someone cleared their throat loudly from Jongin’s left, and he whipped his head up in the direction of the sound.

Jongin caught sight of a boy, pale skin with dark eyes, even darker hair framing his pretty face. Probably in his final year of high school or freshman year in college; the boy looked younger than Jongin, and somewhat frail too.

He was, to Jongin’s dismay, very much his type (or so as his friends like to put it anyway) but also very, very angry. And the boy had yet to say anything.

“H-Hello?” Jongin tried weakly.

“Who are you?” the boy demanded at once, folding his arms. His voice was deeper than Jongin expected, one that sounded like he was in full control of himself. He sounded _sure_ , like Jongin’s favourite lecturer who was incidentally, thirty years older than the boy standing above Jongin; he certainly didn’t expect a <i> _boy </i>_ to sound like a full-grown man.

But wait, if Jongin was looking at a stranger then wouldn’t it mean he was in a _stranger’s house_? He looked around to hastily confirm his suspicions; Jongin had no idea where he was.

“Where am I?” Jongin asked, voice cracking embarrassingly.

“Where are _you_? FYI, I met you last night when you were drunkenly patting my dog in my backyard at three in the fucking morning and when I very politely asked you what the hell you were doing, you slurred something about dogs being great. _And then_ you threw up on my feet, _and then_ fifteen minutes later you were passed out rather comfortably on my couch, so that’s why you’re here right now, in my house.

“Also what the fuck is your name and why were you patting a dog in a stranger’s backyard in the middle of the night?”

Jongin blinked a few times, unsure of what to make of everything. Bits and pieces were starting to come to him now; there was a party at Chanyeol’s dorm house, and he had been trying to get away from everyone after they tried to make him go into the closet with Soojung to play seven minutes in heaven.

He didn’t know how to let them know that he was only interested in guys without making it sound like an insult, but the rest of the night was pretty much a blank.

When no answer was forthcoming, the boy loomed over Jongin like an ominous storm cloud and said, “ _Well_?”

“I’m sorry?” Jongin squeaked. The boy’s charming looks and temper was making it hard for Jongin to react as he normally would; the boy probably thought Jongin was an asshole for making his life so difficult.

Sighing, the boy rolled his eyes at Jongin’s reply. “If you’re sorry, you’d clean the lawn but I’ve already done that so,” he waved a hand flippantly, “just… you know what, you don’t have to tell me anything. Just leave, and never come back, please.”

Jongin scrambled onto that, standing up on his jelly legs to protest. “What— No, I’m not gonna do that, that’s rude and— I-I’m sorry, um,” he gestured eloquently at the boy.

“Kyungsoo,” the boy supplied. He looked irritated in the next moment, as if he’d just let that reply slip out by accident.

Jongin went on, “Kyungsoo. I’m so, _so_ sorry about what I did last night. I-I puked, didn’t I? Can I repay you for that in some way, like money or something else you might have in mind?” Jongin griped, trying to salvage the situation.

“No, I don’t want money or anything, it’s fine—” Kyungsoo was shaking his head when the door on Jongin’s far right gave a loud creak, followed by an indignant yap. They looked at the door at the same time, then Kyungsoo yelled, “Stop throwing yourself at the door, Baguette!”

“Baguette?” Jongin echoed hollowly.

“Yes, that’s my dog, who you were patting last night,” Kyungsoo sniffled, daring Jongin to comment on the unusual name with his eyes.

“Right,” Jongin acceded, then shifted his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably. “So, about paying you back…”

“I don’t want payment,” Kyungsoo said almost vehemently, as if he was insulted that Jongin would even suggest that. He was downright disgusted as he said, “I’m not asking you to do anything than to leave, so if you could do that then we’ll be fine.”

Jongin bit his lip, a little disappointed. This Kyungsoo boy was cute, tragically so, and Jongin would be lying if he said that he wasn’t fishing right now for an opportunity to see him next time, even if it meant cleaning up his own mess from last night which was bound to be extra gross by now. And _he has a dog, that’s so fucking_ cute, Jongin thought.

“Can I say goodbye to your dog, at least? Baguette, right? Like the bread?” Jongin asked tentatively, well aware that he was toeing the limit here.

After a breathless second, “Fine. And you already asked me that last night as well,” Kyungsoo groused, walking over to the door. Jongin was left feeling mildly confused, wondering what exactly did he do to leave someone so disgruntled.

Pattering after Kyungsoo obediently, Jongin noticed that the area was clean, but almost sparse and lacking in any sort of personality. There was an ugly couch which he must’ve been sleeping on before he rolled off, pristine white walls, floors and ceiling all over, and flimsy curtains hanging over the window. Jongin couldn’t tell if these were the signs that Kyungsoo was a cheapskate, a neat freak or just too poor to afford good furniture (but he had a dog, so that seemed quite unlikely).

Kyungsoo reached the door first and opened it carefully, capturing a cream-colored, wriggling handful of fur into his hands before it could escape and lifted the dog towards Jongin. Baguette’s tail wagged excitedly when it spotted Jongin, plump little body wiggling in Kyungsoo’s hand.

“Oh my God, he’s _so_ cute,” Jongin gushed, unable to hold himself back and petting Baguette on the head.

Baguette licked at his fingers while he caressed it, little paws reaching out as if it could hurtle into Jongin’s chest if it tried hard enough. Jongin could feel Kyungsoo’s gaze resting heavily on his face as he fussed over Baguette.

“It’s a she, actually,” Kyungsoo said stiffly.

“Oh. Hello Baguette, you’re a pretty little girl, aren’t you?” Jongin cooed at the dog shamelessly.

He had always loved dogs, always wanted one (or two, or three) of his own, but his parents were allergic hence his dreams were shattered before he ever had a chance to really even think about it. And though he lived apart from them now, in a rented apartment with four other roommates, the building still didn’t allow residents to own pets. Life just seemed to keep getting in the way, unlike Kyungsoo who could probably have another few more Baguette’s running around the house. Jongin was a little envious of the space he obviously had.

“Can I hold her?” Jongin asked. He didn’t think Kyungsoo was going to relinquish his hold on Baguette any time soon, but Baguette’s fluffy and round body was too cute to resist. Kyungsoo made no expression, seeming to ponder on it for a second as he assessed Jongin with his eyes once more and handed Baguette over to him.

Jongin plucked her out of Kyungsoo’s hands gently and held Baguette to his chest, laughing when Baguette wriggled and moved around like an energetic fluffball, paws tickling Jongin’s chest.

“She likes you,” Kyungsoo said shortly.

Jongin laughed nervously in return. He thought Kyungsoo sounded a little angry, maybe even annoyed; well, who wouldn’t be if he had to put up with a stranger hogging the attention of his pet dog? Jongin felt a pang of guilt and regret, and pecked Baguette on her head once before he lifted her up and passed her back to Kyungsoo.

“Thanks for letting me pet your dog. I’ll um, I’ll go now,” Jongin pointed in the opposite direction awkwardly.

“I’ll show you the door,” Kyungsoo grunted, holding Baguette with one hand. That was when Jongin caught a look at Kyungsoo’s hands and noticed that his hands looked really… _manly_ , even to a guy like Jongin. He didn’t think anyone around Kyungsoo’s age could have such adult-looking hands. If he didn’t know better, he would’ve thought Kyungsoo was a full grown adult.

“Your parents aren’t home?” Jongin asked casually, as Kyungsoo led him towards the front door.

“I live alone,” Kyungsoo glared at Jongin, as if he could read Jongin’s thoughts. Jongin blinked in surprise, furrowing his eyebrows together.

“Alone? But you don’t look any older than a high school—”

“Student, I know. Well, I mean I kinda still am a student, studying for my masters. You’re not the first one to make that mistake,” Kyungsoo interrupted him, sounding resigned. They stopped before the front door, and Kyungsoo placed his hand on the handle, ready to let Jongin out.

 _Masters though?_ Jongin widened his eyes. Jongin himself was only in his first year of pursuing his degree in entrepreneurship; Kyungsoo had to be older than him, then.

“That makes you a little older than me, Kyungsoo _hyung_ ,” Jongin said, hoping the honorific would soften Kyungsoo up for him (he still wasn’t giving up on Baguette and her owner just yet). Kyungsoo lifted an eyebrow at him.

“I’m only in my first year at Seoul University,” Jongin said shyly. Kyungsoo’s upper lip curled in distaste.

“I know. Hope you enjoyed your wild party last night, regardless,” Kyungsoo replied. Jongin cocked his head to one side; how did Kyungsoo know that Jongin was at Chanyeol’s party last night? Unless he was there or…

Kyungsoo caught the expression upon Jongin’s face and pushed open the front door, motioning for him to step out. Jongin noticed his own shoes outside and felt guilty once more for being such a burden to Kyungsoo; if it had been one of Jongin’s college mates who had rescued him last night, they would’ve pranked Jongin in some way. Jongin really hoped he could make it all up to Kyungsoo somehow.

“Your friends, I’m assuming, live in the dorm house just down the road,” Kyungsoo said, padding out onto the cement front lawn with his bare feet. Jongin stepped shoved his feet into his worn sneakers and shuffled out.

Kyungsoo pointed somewhere over the gate to the right and Jongin said, “Oh,” numbly.

He was living very close to Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s dorm house; it was a shame the entire place was full, otherwise maybe Jongin would’ve requested to live here instead of the apartment nearby. 

“Were we really um, loud last night?” Jongin asked, grimacing at how it must’ve been last night. When he had arrived in a four seater car packed with nine people, the party had yet to start and people were just starting to park their cars by the side of the road. By the time any sort of music playing, Jongin was already drunk enough to start giggling at Yifan’s stupid jokes and had no fucks to give.

“Loud would be an understatement,” Kyungsoo replied coolly. <i> _Shit </i>_, Jongin cursed himself.

He knew he wasn’t exactly giving Kyungsoo the best of first impressions right now; he probably thought Jongin was some kind of party animal who had absolutely no consideration for others. It was, in fact, his first time getting so drunk last night that he can’t even remember what sins he might’ve committed during that time. God bless his soul that it just had to happen in front of the most attractive guy Jongin had seen in _months_.

Kyungsoo lingered with Baguette tucked under his arm as Jongin reluctantly made his way to the front gate, digging his hands into the pocket of his jeans.

“So I guess I’ll see you around?” Jongin offered weakly. Kyungsoo shrugged, finally offering him something that resembled a half-hearted smile. And Jongin literally meant half-hearted smile, because his lips curled into the shape of a heart for a very brief second and took Jongin’s breath away. 

“I guess so…” Kyungsoo trailed off questioningly, and it took a beat for Jongin to realize what he meant.

“I-I’m Jongin,” he stammered, blushing at his lack of manners. “I’m so sorry again, for being such a drag, hyung,” he added.

“It’s water under the bridge,” Kyungsoo stroked Baguette languidly, who already had her eyes closed and nose pointed up proudly. Jongin laughed lightly at Baguette, before pulling at the gate, stepping out onto the other side.

“Have a safe trip home,” Kyungsoo quipped, shutting the gate decisively. Jongin pouted, both at Kyungsoo’s evident eagerness to get rid of him and at the fact that this was his first and probably last time he’d see Baguette. She was so fluffy and plump and cute; Jongin already knew he was going to miss her (maybe even her owner a little more).

“Thanks. Bye,” Jongin waved, and began to make his way towards the dorm house. Kyungsoo waved back briefly for a few seconds, then turned and re-entered his home, the door shutting tight with a click of finality.

All the air went out of Jongin and he puffed an exhale of air, his fringe flicking upwards then back down over his forehead again. Jongin didn’t want to believe that this was the last he’d ever see of Kyungsoo. Sure, Kyungsoo was pretty surly and brusque but Jongin wasn’t going to give up just yet; he knew he had to chase this down until something happened, either rejection or perhaps (his heart fluttered at the thought) something _else_.

He was already going through a whole list of ideas by the time he pressed the doorbell outside the dorm house repeatedly.

 

-

 

 

Kyungsoo sat in the front seat of Yixing’s car, staring outside the window blankly as his friend drove him back from college.

He had so many assignments today he didn’t even know which to start on tonight, and he had to think about dinner too. He contemplated instant noodles, but that wasn’t too healthy and his mother would yell at him if she knew how much he depended on them.

He sighed; he didn’t actually mind cooking, loved it in fact, except that it was so time consuming and assignments kept coming in faster than he could fix up a meal and go through the process of cutting up ingredients, cooking them and washing everything up when he was done. Kyungsoo had to choose between the two for most days, and he always opted for his studies over his health more times than he’d like to admit.

Sometimes he thought time was a little bastard; it passed too fast on a daily basis, but the year didn’t seem to catch up fast enough. He felt like he’d aged years since he started his second year in college. 

“You okay, Kyungsoo?” Yixing asked, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to glance at him.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Kyungsoo laughed tiredly, shifting in his seat, “just feeling the weight of everything. There’s a lot we gotta do right now.” Yixing was in the same course as Kyungsoo and nodded understandingly, though Kyungsoo had never seen the guy look remotely affected by anything in particularly.

Yixing was as cool as a cucumber right out of the fridge, and was kind too, picking up and sending Kyungsoo home every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

“Don’t worry, Kyungsoo. You were top of the class in the last test, you’ll be fine,” Yixing smiled, reminding Kyungsoo about the upcoming test in two weeks. Kyungsoo sighed and scrubbed at his hair, shaking the strands out of his eyes.

“Past records are just that; a part of the past.”

“Oh c’mon, Kyungsoo, don’t be so hard on yourself. Maybe you should get yourself a guy or something, y’know, to loosen you up,” Yixing teased light-heartedly.

Kyungsoo wrinkled his nose; he didn’t see how getting a boyfriend was supposed to be a way for him to let loose. For some reason, his mind flickered to Jongin, the drunk boy from a week ago, and he scowled at himself.

“I don’t need a man to make me happy,” he replied a little too hastily, to which Yixing shrugged at.

He had to admit, Jongin was really attractive, but there was no love lost between them for sure; Jongin had been far more interested in Baguette than in Kyungsoo. And he had been so rude to the guy that day (though he felt he deserved to be angry since the guy had puked all over his feet, after all), he was pretty sure he had burned down all bridges before they were ever there.

Jongin had insisted on ‘repaying’ Kyungsoo for all the trouble he caused, but Kyungsoo didn’t want any of it. It wasn’t like the guy could clear up his gross mess in Kyungsoo’s backyard, since Kyungsoo stayed up till 5AM just to scoop everything up with his spade into a plastic bag to throw it away and scrub his spade clean with a brush after that. There just wasn’t anything left to ‘repay’ or ‘forgive’, really.

A patch of grass in his backyard was now shrivelled up and very much dead, thanks to whatever was in Jongin’s puke. But Kyungsoo’s landlord never said anything about making sure the lawn looked pretty, so he was okay with it.

 _He was cute though_ , Kyungsoo thought wistfully.

He’d been so different from what Kyungsoo expected; a little clumsy and surprisingly genuine, no trace of what he seemed to be during the previous night. Kyungsoo had honestly expected him to be an asshole about everything, seeing as he looked like a stuck up, rich boy (from what he glimpsed from the night before anyway). But if they’d met under different circumstances, Kyungsoo could honestly say that he might’ve liked Jongin right off the bat.

If only Baguette wasn’t so cute and captured all of his attention, but who could blame pudgy, little Baguette? She was the definition of irresistible.

 Yixing was just turning into the street where Kyungsoo lived, indicators ticking loudly in the interior space of the car, when Kyungsoo widened his eyes as he slipped his backpack over his shoulders.

“ _Jongin_?” he blurted.

There the boy sat by the gutter outside Kyungsoo’s house in all of his long-limbed, tan glory, still handsome as ever as he glanced up from his phone when the car’s headlights washed over him. Kyungsoo frowned, and proceeded to get out of the car while Yixing peered over the steering wheel curiously and asked Kyungsoo, “Who is he? Is he your guy?”

“No,” Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. “Just someone I met last weekend,” he muttered, shutting the door. A knowing smile plastered itself over Yixing’s face and he started nodding, rolling down the window to continue the conversation.

“Oh, I see what’s going on. Alright, alright, so it isn’t official yet… Damn, Kyungsoo, you shouldn’t keep a guy like him a secret. Look at the dedication he’s showing,” Yixing gestured at Jongin, who was standing up by now and waved tentatively at Yixing. Kyungsoo looked at him, then back at his friend.

“He’s polite too. He’s a keeper, Kyungsoo,” Yixing said, giving him a thumbs up. Kyungsoo sputtered, struggling to come up with a smart answer before he just decided to storm off, going over to Jongin.

“Hi, hyung,” Jongin smiled shyly. His black tee and dark blue jeans made him look so, so, so attractive, and he held a small paper bag in his hand delicately. Kyungsoo pretended to look away to dig into his pockets for the keys to the gate. “Hey. What’s up?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Well, I was wondering if I could talk to you…? A-are you free right now?” Jongin asked hesitantly. Kyungsoo looked over his shoulder; Yixing was still there in his car, a smile on his face as he watched them like it was some kind of live action movie or something.

“Uh. Sure, I’m free. Wait, how long have you been waiting though?” Kyungsoo frowned, unlocking the gate noisily.

Jongin rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Hm. I dunno, maybe an hour?”

Kyungsoo stopped, and looked up at Jongin. “You’ve been sitting here waiting for me for _an_ _hour_?” he asked.

Jongin shook his head hastily, “It’s not what you think! I was j-just at Chanyeol’s dorm just now. We met up to study Advertising together and since I was in the neighbourhood, I thought I’d just stop by to say hi and drop off a little gift.” He held up the paper bag and Kyungsoo blinked at it.

“A gift?” he repeated, pushing the gate open with a loud creak.

Jongin nodded his affirmation. “A gift. For Baguette,” he smiled, and Kyungsoo’s heart sank a little. Of course it was for the little bitch.

“Oh. You didn’t need to get her a gift,” Kyungsoo said in a lightly chiding tone, taking the paper bag. He peeked into it and glimpsed pink fabric, pink feathers and twinkling rhinestones. “It was nothing. I just thought we sort of got on the wrong foot when we first met and I wanted to fix things,” Jongin beamed.

With Yixing still watching them in the background, Kyungsoo suddenly felt oddly obliged to look at the gift now and began to fumble with the paper bag to take a look at the gift. When he shook the plastic wrapper out, Kyungsoo was looking at a small, pink and extremely girly dress just the perfect size for Baguette to wear. It was so sweet Kyungsoo’s teeth hurt and for the first time in his life, he hated his dog.

But only by a tiny bit. She was still his dog, regardless.

“It’s so cute,” Kyungsoo fake-squealed in a strained voice, teeth clenched together as he attempted to smile.

Jongin, unfortunately for Kyungsoo, saw right through it and his shoulders slumped. “You hate it, don’t you? The girl at the pet store recommended it, she said it was selling out really quickly even though they only had it in the store for about a week.”

“No, no, I don’t hate it,” Kyungsoo shook his head, looking at it again.

What was there to hate? Its sparkling beauty? A lot of effort clearly went into the dress and it was pretty tasteful (though verging on ratchet) Even Baguette would probably love it. He tried to sound as sincere as possible as he said, “I really like it, actually, Jongin. I think Baguette would love it too.”

He smiled, and Jongin froze for a moment, probably from the way Kyungsoo’s face scrunched up weirdly whenever he smiled. But whatever, since Jongin was only here for Baguette anyway.

Kyungsoo looked over his shoulder once more to send Yixing a death glare, gesturing to him that they were going to go in now. He was going to get a whole stream of texts tonight, all of them asking him about what was going on between himself and Jongin, he could feel it. But they could ask him all the questions they wanted, because Jongin was going to come in and just coo all over Baguette for the rest of the evening, leaving Kyungsoo to hang around like an awkward turtle.

Yixing gave him a weird oh-yeah-I-got-it look, but at least it meant he was finally turning the car to drive off, and Kyungsoo returned his attention to Jongin, who was waiting for him to invite him in expectantly.

“Well. Um, come in,” Kyungsoo swept his hand to one side.

When Kyungsoo unlocked the front door, Baguette came bounding on her short feet like a furry rage of happiness, yapping at the both of them. She jumped at Kyungsoo’s legs first, then at Jongin when Kyungsoo didn’t pick her up right away. He felt oddly betrayed as he turned on the lights and went off to put his backpack in his room while Jongin held Baguette up in the air like a trophy and giggled at her.

 Kyungsoo pursed his lips when he was out of sight, listening to Jongin coo at her. “I got you a gift, Baguette. Did you miss me?” he asked excitedly. Kyungsoo was still holding the dress in his hand and was tempted to set it on fire.

 _Then we’ll see if Baguette still misses you_ , Kyungsoo thought, steaming in his own angry thoughts. He caught himself mid-scowl just in time to put on a neutral expression just before he went back to the living room.

He did not, however, have any expression prepared for the sight before him; Jongin was sprawled on the ground near the sofa, Baguette perched neatly on his chest. He was scratching her behind her ears (which she loved) and he was humming a familiar tune quietly under his breath. Jongin looked more at home here than Kyungsoo ever did, and Baguette looked especially comfortable on Jongin’s chest.

And he’d only been here for a grand total of five goddamned minutes. Something bubbled up within him, something that felt ugly and stupid, not to mention childish.

“Uh,” Kyungsoo didn’t know what to say to break the quiet.

Jongin immediately glanced up in Kyungsoo’s direction, smiling in embarrassment. “Are you gonna let her try on the dress?” he asked.

“Y-yeah. If you could just…” Kyungsoo trailed off, holding up the dress and pointing at it weakly. Jongin nodded, collecting Baguette into his hands gently as he sat up. Her limbs hung loosely over his fingers, eyes still blissfully shut while Kyungsoo came over and crossed his legs to sit before Jongin.

“So um, do you go to Seoul Uni as well?” Jongin asked conversationally as Kyungsoo took Baguette from Jongin, “I only ask since you’re living near one of the dorm buildings, though I’ve never seen you on campus…”

Baguette’s eyes opened briefly to look around while Kyungsoo planted her unto his lap to get the dress out of the wrapper first.

“No, I go to International Studies, do you know it?” Kyungsoo replied, shaking the dress out and scrunching the wrapper up to toss beside him. Baguette sniffed at the dress curiously as Kyungsoo began to manhandle her into it; he only had winter clothes for her, since clothes for pets were actually pretty pricey. In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised if this dress was over twenty bucks, which was awfully nice of Jongin…

“Oh, that college,” Jongin nodded. “What do you study there?”

“Nothing interesting. Mathematics,” Kyungsoo said, buttoning up the dress from underneath Baguette.

“ _Math_? They actually offer Masters for Mathematics?” Jongin laughed.

Kyungsoo pursed his lips, lifting an eyebrow in amusement. “Yes, they do. I take it that you weren’t a very big fan of Math back in high school.”

“Big time,” Jongin admitted, splaying his fingers wide open as a gesture of speech. Kyungsoo tried not to let Jongin’s slim, smooth hands (and those pretty nails) distract him from his task at hand. _This boy is only out for my bitch_ , Kyungsoo thought dryly, _nothing more_.

“I barely passed in high school,” Jongin continued.

Kyungsoo nodded, adjusting the dress on Baguette and smoothening any visible creases out. “A lot of my friends were the same. Meanwhile, I messed up every other presentation in front of the class during high school. Math was the only subject that didn’t require me to speak up, so,” Kyungsoo shrugged.

He liked Math; it was a challenge, but not as spontaneous as the challenge of life itself. There were solutions, alternate solutions, different calculations to get the same result. But socializing? Interacting with more than five people at a time? Calling people up whenever he needed to find out something?

Oh hell, _no_. Kyungsoo sucked at that. It was a minor miracle that he still had his shit together.

“Well, that’s normal,” Jongin frowned, “everyone gets nervous sometimes. At least you channelled your energy into something else that you were good at. And studying Math is really cool actually,” Jongin said, smiling at him, “it’s not very common and all, y’know. It’s special.”

His eyes scrunched up into crescents and Kyungsoo shrivelled up into a dried husk and died on the inside.

“I guess,” Kyungsoo mumbled, blushing just a little. He plopped Baguette down on the ground and watched her shake the dress out.

That was the closest thing to a compliment that anyone ever said to Kyungsoo about his chosen educational course. Everyone literally had the same initial reaction as Jongin when people closest to him found out about it; either that look of surprise on their face because _wow, who actually wanted to study math_ , or _oh God, he must be some kind of socially awkward, nerdy genius._ It was just his luck that Jongin could be sweet to him even after how he treated Jongin so badly the last time he was under Kyungsoo’s roof.

“Ngaw, you’re so pretty, Baguette, it fits you perfectly!” Jongin’s squeal interrupted Kyungsoo’s thoughts.

Yes, Baguette did look pretty, especially since she filled out the dress nicely and the skirt was all puffed out near her back legs. Kyungsoo felt his thoughts go haywire through an array of different, conflicting emotions.

“She _does_ look pretty… Now you’re making me feel bad for being so rude to you the other day,” Kyungsoo said to Jongin begrudgingly.

Jongin just laughed, and _oh_. He had the sexiest, cutest laugh if Kyungsoo ever heard one.

“Don’t worry about it, hyung. It’s water under the bridge,” he tossed Kyungsoo’s words from that day right back at him. Kyungsoo allowed himself a tiny smile as their gazes met over Baguette, and Jongin caught it just in time, smiling widely in return.  

God, he was like some kind of human sized puppy.

Like water flowing between small cracks, Jongin started to wiggle his way into Kyungsoo’s schedule and subsequently, into his home over the next few months.

At first, Kyungsoo never thought he’d see Jongin again after he dropped by with the pink dress for Baguette. Perhaps they’d wave at one another if Jongin ever passed by Kyungsoo’s place while on the way to the dorm house to see his friends (or to attend another wild party), but it didn’t go down like that at all.

Surprise, surprise, because on Friday afternoon, Jongin pressed the doorbell and Baguette practically flew out of the front door to greet him.

Kyungsoo let him in (again, entirely out of good manners), and the hours went by quickly as Jongin played with Baguette and chatted with Kyungsoo conversationally. Jongin asked questions about Kyungsoo’s background, like where did he come from and why was he living alone in a three-bedroom house.

“My parents knew the landlord. He didn’t want any rowdy parties,” Kyungsoo had looked up at that particular bit, “so he’d preferred it if it was just me and maybe a few others that I trusted. But there was no one, since everyone I know already has their own place somewhere in Seoul so they gave us a good discount on the rent and here I am, paying for two other rooms that I don’t use.”

Jongin had blushed while stroking Baguette’s fur. “Chanyeol and the guys aren’t all that rowdy…”

Apparently, there were ten guys living in the dorm house down the road, Chanyeol being one of them. That fateful party was supposed to be the start to a great semester (though Kyungsoo didn’t agree that an all-night party was a good way to start off the semester), and it was the first time Jongin ever attended their parties. No one had warned him that Chanyeol mixed drinks like a mad scientist, pouring extra shots of vodka and whiskey into everything.

Kyungsoo had pursed his lips when Jongin told him all of this, but it was at least an explanation for his behaviour.

That wasn’t the only thing Kyungsoo found out from the time they spent together over the months. Jongin was single. Jongin loved fried chicken and everything that should fuck up his skin. Regardless, he was close to flawless (not that Kyungsoo didn’t already notice this from before). Jongin also couldn’t stand the taste of most herbs. Jongin had a heart breaking smile, one that Kyungsoo couldn’t stare at for too long if he wanted to maintain good eyesight.

And Jongin had the _nicest_ body Kyungsoo had ever seen; he didn’t know how to put it in words without sounding like a Shakespeare wannabe. All he really knew was that when Jongin was spread out on the ground and arms stretched over his head, his shirt would lift up to reveal a sliver of taut, bronze skin and Kyungsoo’s fingers wanted to touch.

Besides his newfound inappropriate thoughts, Kyungsoo also found out that Jongin had always wanted a dog for his own, but most of his family members were allergic and the rented apartment he now lived in with two other guys didn’t allow pets, hence the fixation on Baguette.

As if it wasn’t already adorable enough that he liked Baguette this much and she liked him back too, now Jongin had Kyungsoo _pitying_ him.

 _Fuck_ , Kyungsoo thought in alarm, two months too late into this weird thing they had going on. Jongin was rolling on the ground beside Baguette out in the living room, trying to entertain her. Kyungsoo sliced up the spring onion and threw it into the pot of boiling stew, trying to calm his nerves. _I actually really like the guy_ , Kyungsoo realized.  

 _Not only do I pity him,_ _I have the fucking hots for him_ , Kyungsoo thought in a panic as he cut up the mushrooms.

They did actually have rather nice, easy conversations in between his play sessions with Baguette and over their shared meals. Plus, he seemed to know that Kyungsoo wasn’t into skinship and never made any moves to touch Kyungsoo, even if it was something as simple as passing something over to him. It didn’t look good for Kyungsoo though, especially when Jongin clearly wasn’t looking for anything beyond friendship and the opportunity to throw rubber toys around the house or lawn to watch Baguette scamper after them.

So why did he have to be so cute and sincere about everything? And irresistibly sweet?

Kyungsoo felt flinging the knife in his hand at the wall. He turned around briefly, spotting Jongin playing tug-of-war with Baguette now. He faked a growl at her, laughing his sexy-but-dumb laugh when Baguette tried to shake him off. Kyungsoo faced the pots and pans before himself once more, wishing he could slice something more than vegetables.

 _This is too much_ , he thought, cutting into the mushrooms with more force than necessary. “Too fucking much,” he added under his breath. He didn’t sign up for any of this shit. All he wanted in the first place was some peace and quiet at three in the morning.

Jongin stopped for a moment outside, relinquishing the thick piece of rope to Baguette. “Did you say something, hyung?” he called.

“Uh, no,” Kyungsoo replied. “It’s time to eat,” he said, grabbing two bowls and placing them by the rice pot.

It was an unspoken deal now, for Jongin to fill and serve the bowls of rice, as well as setting the table with coasters and cutlery. He once told Kyungsoo that he was absolutely useless in the kitchen, for which Kyungsoo was grateful. He didn’t need an Asian, tanned version of Jamie Oliver in his life, thanks very much. Jongin already made Kyungsoo feel enough of strange feelings as he was.

“Alright,” Jongin replied, already getting to his feet and leaving Baguette to chew on her toy. They moved around the kitchen quietly, bringing all the food out with practiced ease.

“You know, you’re actually over here a lot,” Kyungsoo commented as calmly as he could manage when they finally sat down to eat.

Not that he minded, but it was scary that he didn’t mind having Jongin over so often. He should’ve minded, should’ve been annoyed with him by now. He wanted to know if Baguette was really the reason why Jongin kept coming over twice a week like clockwork. Could there actually be something more for Kyungsoo here or was he just supposed to suffer in silence as Jongin continued to stop by his place?

Jongin chewed his lower lip, looking decidedly sheepish. “I’m sorry, hyung. Do you want me to stop coming by? I-I could, it’s just that I like playing with Baguette…”

“No, no, it’s not like that,” Kyungsoo shook his head, pressing his spoon into his rice, “I’m not trying to chase you away or anything, just. Don’t you have anything better to do, maybe? I mean, it isn’t all that fun here…” Well, it was fun for Kyungsoo because it meant eye candy, but he couldn’t say the same for Jongin.

Jongin shook his head. “Nope. I like it here, hyung. There’s you to talk to and baby Baguette to play around with,” Jongin said, smiling at Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo’s heart dropped into his stomach as he scooped some of the stew for Jongin, just for something to do to distract himself. Jongin was so dedicated and loyal to Baguette; Kyungsoo might as well give her up to him, though that would mean he’d never see Jongin again for sure. Baguette evidently seemed to be the only thing around keeping Jongin interested.

“Well, if you put it that way,” Kyungsoo glanced up briefly, forcing a smile.

 

 

-

 

 

“Oh, it’s you. _Again_ ,” Junmyeon said flatly, narrowing his eyes when he opened the door to find Jongin on the doorstep of the dorm house.

“Hey, hyung,” Jongin greeted him sheepishly.

He knew he’d been stopping a lot more often than usual for the most mundane of reasons these days. Anything from helping Chanyeol out with his Advertising assignments to borrowing something from Jongdae’s closet, Jongin had used it as an excuse to stop by the dorm house and dump his bag there, pretend to hang around with whoever was there for half an hour or so, and then rush over to Kyungsoo’s house.

“Hey yourself,” Junmyeon shut the door, shoving his hands into his pockets. Some of the guys were seated around the television, greeting Jongin with a nod or a half-smile. They were busy watching Descendants of the Sun.

Jongin never told any of the guys what he did when he left the house but Junmyeon, the unofficial mother hen of the house, was obviously starting to get suspicious about why he seemed to drop by a lot, only to disappear for hours on end. It’s not like he didn’t want to tell them, but he was afraid that he’d seem like he was just using the house as an excuse to be in the area (which was exactly what he was doing).

And it just so happened that Junmyeon was around almost every time Jongin stopped by. The others didn’t really seem to notice or care if they _did_ notice.

Jongin laughed nervously. “Had your dinner yet, hyung?” he asked conversationally.

“Yes. But the question is, how did you come into this house smelling like your dad’s cologne in the afternoon and return once again in the evening smelling like rice cakes and bean paste stew?” Junmyeon tapped his foot like an annoyed mother would when facing her errant son.

He tried his best to evade the question. “How do you know how my dad’s cologne smells like?” Jongin tried to inch towards the stairs. Junmyeon wasn’t having any of it and came two steps forward, coming dangerously close to Jongin. He looked ready to murder him, or at least, ban him from ever stopping by the dorm house again.

“I know it’s your dad’s cologne because my dad uses it as well. Seriously, it just smells _old_. And nobody puts on cologne unless they want to impress somebody so tell me. Who have you been banging? Is it some housewife in this neighbourhood?”

Jongin shook his head in horror when he realized where the conversation was headed, but Junmyeon was not one to be deterred.  

“Mrs. Choi from three houses down, maybe? She makes some really great shepherd’s pie and I won’t lie, she’s kind of hot but I swear, Jongin, if you make a bad name for the university in this neighbourhood—”

“Hyung, it’s not like that,” Jongin cut in with a strained voice. “I’m not even straight,” he said weakly.

That stopped Junmyeon short. “Oh. Is that so?”

Jongin nodded almost frantically.

“Well, you certainly _look_ straight,” he wrinkled his nose, baffled. Jongin just shook his head, feeling weak around the knees at the thought of Junmyeon wondering if he was mucking around with middle aged housewives.

Not that he had anything against that but no, he wasn’t into them. He was only into Kyungsoo, his smooth calves on the rare occasion when he’d wear knee length shorts, the way it felt like sunshine peeking through the clouds on a dreary day whenever he smiled and _oh_ , his red lips whenever he ate something spicy. Jongin was undeniably, irrevocably gay for him.  

And Baguette too, of course.

“I-I’m not. I just— Don’t,” Jongin stuttered, shaking his head once again. Junmyeon looked visibly relieved at that, nodding at Jongin.

“That’s good to know then. I don’t want any trouble from you, you hear? We still have to maintain a sense of dignity around here as Seoul Uni students…” Junmyeon said warningly.

Jongin resisted pointing out that people in the neighbourhood probably didn’t like them very much, since some of the dorm house residents (namely Chanyeol and Jongdae) were notorious for throwing open parties every chance they get. But as long as he could still come by as an excuse, then he didn’t mind keeping his thoughts to himself.

It would only be a matter of time anyway, before he’d attempt to hit on Kyungsoo for real and see if they’d go anywhere as being something more than friends.

But according to Chanyeol, all gangly limbs dangling over the top bunk of the double decker bed like it just couldn’t contain him, Jongin wasn’t moving fast enough.

“Dude, I can’t believe you’re still coming back here every night. Haven’t you sealed the deal yet?” Chanyeol commented without looking away from his phone when Jongin came in to get his things. Baekhyun, at the bottom bunk, glanced up from his laptop and smiled briefly at Jongin.

“I keep thinking you’ll stop by one of these days and never come back for your things ‘cause you’re too busy getting it on with your guy, but you’re still here every night like you’re on some kind of curfew.”

“It’s only been two months, Yeol. I can’t move too fast,” Jongin replied.

Only the both of them knew about Jongin visiting Kyungsoo every week (they’d even gone so far as to check him out too), since it was next to impossible to keep matters like this a secret from them. One other guy was sharing the room as well but he was never around, so that saved Jongin from explaining himself to him.

“Do you even hear yourself right now? It’s exactly because it’s been two months. You’re taking _way_ too long, Jongin. You gotta strike while the iron is hot, man, or in this case, strike while your boy is still single,” Baekhyun chirped from the shadowy bottom bunk.

Jongin made a face at the both of them. He would never be so brazen with Kyungsoo, especially since they didn’t get off on the right foot and he needed to be sure he was in Kyungsoo’s good graces before he could really plan on hitting on him.

“And besides,” Baekhyun went on flippantly, “I wouldn’t come back to this shithole of a dorm if I had someone cooking me hot meals like a wifey every other day.”

Jongin raised an eyebrow at that. “Do I really smell like home-cooked food?” he frowned, sniffing at his shirt sleeve. He couldn’t smell anything in particular, certainly not the pungent smell of food.

“We live in a dorm chock full of testosterone, Jongin, surviving eight percent of the time on instant noodles,” Baekhyun stated plainly, “nobody living under this roof can even slice an onion, so I don’t think it’s weird at all to say that I can smell home-cooked food from a mile away.” Chanyeol swung an arm over for a high five.

“Well,” Jongin replied shortly, “I wouldn’t really know about that, but he isn’t my _wifey_ —”

“But you want him to be! And that’s all that matters, ya son of a gun,” Baekhyun suddenly exclaimed loudly, bursting out from beneath the bunk like an angered squirrel.

Jongin began, “I really don’t see—”

“Just shut up, Jongin. Go home, and think of the best pick-up lines you can come up with. Then, use the best one on your boy. That is all.”

Jongin grimaced. He wasn’t really sure if pick-up lines even worked on a guy like Kyungsoo, but at least they were pushing him to do something. And to be frank, maybe it was a step in the right direction. He needed all the charm he could get if he wanted Kyungsoo to see him in a different light.

“Or what if I try to do something romantic instead?” Jongin asked.

Baekhyun pondered on it, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “Cliché, but still workable if done well.”

 _Yes,_ Jongin bit down on a smile. If that was the case, then hey, it was all he needed to hear.

 


	2. I never knew, I never knew you could hold moonlight in your hands till the night I held you

Kyungsoo didn’t know how he was supposed to react when Jongin texted him late one night, asking him, _‘Hyung, what are we going to have lunch for tomorrow?_ ’

At first, he felt oddly pleased that Jongin referred to the both of them as ‘we’. He felt his chest warm as he bit his lip, trying to hold back a smile even though there was no one to see except for Baguette. And the fact that they finally exchanged numbers a few days back hadn’t been in vain after all; Jongin actually wanted to have some sort of communication with him besides coming over to see Baguette.

Then Kyungsoo caught himself just before his thoughts drifted off into fantasy and scowled, rolling his eyes at the text. Sure, Jongin had said ‘we’ but he probably didn’t mean it that way.

 _More like we as in Jongin and Baguette_ , Kyungsoo thought mournfully. Jongin was guilty of feeding Baguette at the table sometimes; that counted as a date in a way, right?

Side-eyeing Baguette as she slept at the foot of his bed, he typed out a short reply, _‘Haven’t really thought about it yet. Why? Do you have something in mind?’_

He tried to return to his homework, but Kyungsoo was too jittery to solve any equations when his mind was filled with anticipation of what Jongin might have in mind. Kyungsoo tapped a foot under his table anxiously for a few minutes, dropping his mechanical pencil over his notes the second his phone pinged loudly. Baguette’s ears flicked on the bed at the sudden noise.

_‘Was hoping you’d say that. Can I bring food over tomorrow for a change? :)’_

Kyungsoo lifted an eyebrow at Jongin’s reply. _That sounds like a date_ , he thought. But it didn’t sound like a normal date… He was no expert in courtship in any way, but bringing food over to someone’s house instead of eating out didn’t sound like an impressive first date. Unless he was bringing food _for_ Baguette, which would make sense.

“Oh,” Kyungsoo pursed his lips, feeling a little dumb. Of course. Why would Jongin ask him out in the first place? “For fuck’s sake, Kyungsoo,” he whispered under his breath to himself.

_‘Sounds cool. Do I have to prepare anything?’_

Kyungsoo would probably have to prepare one of the empty rooms down the hallway for Jongin to move in with Baguette. He was willing to bet that Jongin was fed up of travelling here so often, and he was going to ask for Kyungsoo’s blessing to propose to Baguette. Wouldn’t be a complete surprise since he’d been stopping by enough times that Kyungsoo often wondered if Jongin ever got enough studying done. Surely making a conscious effort to play with a dog every week was making a mark on his grades?

But then again, Kyungsoo couldn’t really complain. He hated how Jongin’s smile made him feel too warm inside yet he looked forward to Jongin’s visits every day like some lovesick puppy, and only wished that Jongin was smiling for him and not for his dog.

 _Why is he so hot?_ Kyungsoo moaned mournfully in his throat. Why God, why?

His phone buzzed again, and Kyungsoo sighed as he reached for it, reading the reply: _‘Nothing at all!! Maybe some ice, but I don’t think it’ll be necessary.’_

Good God, what was Jongin up to? Now Kyungsoo was starting to afraid, especially as he really didn’t know what to expect from Jongin.

He was everything Kyungsoo wanted but also everything he didn’t quite expect Jongin to be, dog over-enthusiast included. Who knew what he wanted to do with the ice? Give Baguette some kind of ice bath?

A full five minutes later of mulling and cursing at himself, ‘ _Okay_ ,’ was all Kyungsoo could manage into a text without revealing his mixed emotions.

He didn’t know why he felt so jittery with excitement, though he chalked it up to the fact that it was a surprise and he never had much experience with that. Admittedly, it was rather nice of Jongin to do anything at all in the first place, no matter who he had in mind for this surprise. They didn’t owe each other anything in the first place.

Kyungsoo curled up on his chair, wrapping his arms around himself.

 

 

-

 

 

The next night, Kyungsoo was chewing on his nails at the mirror, wondering if he was under-dressed or over-dressed for the occasion, whatever it was.

Was he even supposed to be dressed for the occasion? Did Baguette have to be in her ratchet pink dress? He didn’t really know, but he supposed chinos and his favourite dark gray long sleeved tee was acceptable. As for Baguette, he made her wear a snug little jumper just in case.

It was cool once more tonight, so Kyungsoo supposed she could wear it though she’d have to take it off if Jongin was going to play with her. He didn’t want Baguette to be cooked to death from sweating and panting beneath all that thick fluff.

“What do you think he wants to do?” Kyungsoo asked Baguette, picking her up from his bed and holding her at eye level. She blinked innocently at him. His mystery evening had been playing on his mind all day long, rendering him half-distracted for the most part till he almost burned his frying pan in the afternoon when he forgot he left it on the stove.

“I bet he’s going to want to buy you. Would you miss me if he did?” Kyungsoo continue to say. Baguette looked to left, disinterested. Kyungsoo pursed his lips. “Of course you wouldn’t. I personally wouldn’t either, not when Jongin looks that good all the time.”

Tucking her under his arm, Kyungsoo left his room to wait for Jongin; he was bound to arrive any minute now, and Kyungsoo’s heart was thundering in his chest.

He kept trying to guess at Jongin’s motives might be; could it be a special day or something today? Was it a day of celebration in any way at all, or were his intentions more intimate? Kyungsoo really couldn’t say, given his lack of experience in all this. _Or maybe he just wants to make up for all the free dinners and lunches so far,_ Kyungsoo thought.

That would be pretty damned disappointing. Kyungsoo rubbed Baguette’s soft paw with his finger nervously.

“Do you think this is a prank maybe, Baguette? Like some kind of frat boy antic—”

The doorbell rang, and Kyungsoo started, glancing at the front door. Baguette’s ears were perked upwards too, eyes bright with curiosity. They both stared for a moment. “Guess he’s here,” Kyungsoo muttered, shuffling over to the front door to let Jongin in.  

He certainly had been expecting the human embodiment of hotness at the gates, but what he did not expect was Jongin to look even hotter tonight, with his hair stylishly tossed to one side and denim jacket hanging over his shoulders as he stood there patiently. He looked like some kind of tanned, Greek god just standing there. Kyungsoo gawked for a brief second before he remembered himself and put on his new slippers to walk over and unlock the gates for Jongin.

“Hey,” Jongin said brightly, smile warm and friendly.

“Hi…” Baguette wriggled in Kyungsoo’s hold, panting at the sight of Jongin (he didn’t blame her for feeling thirsty).

“You look great, hyung, did you just come back from an event or something?” Jongin asked as Kyungsoo fumbled with the lock and his keys.

“N-No…” Kyungsoo replied under his breath. He looked like nothing next to Jongin, who was terribly illegal and rude to show up at Kyungsoo’s house looking like this, with a big, bulky picnic basket at his feet—

“Wait, wait, why do you have a picnic basket with you?” Kyungsoo asked, interrupting his own thoughts. Jongin beamed at him over the gates, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Kyungsoo struggled to maintain eye contact.

“Well, that’s… kind of the surprise, hyung. We’re having a picnic!” Jongin said eagerly.

“But where?” Kyungsoo blinked. There was no playground or hill for miles around, and Kyungsoo didn’t see how having a picnic indoors could still be considered a legitimate picnic. It would just be a meal.

Jongin pointed at the large patch of grass right beside Kyungsoo. “On your front lawn, hyung.”

Kyungsoo looked at his lawn as if he’d never seen it before. Well, now that he thought about it, his lawn was an alright place to have a picnic but… “ _My_ lawn?” he echoed.

“Yeah,” Jongin laughed, eyes crinkling up into a bashful smile. Kyungsoo laughed slowly too, the absurdity of the situation fully sinking in right then. “That is _the_ dumbest idea I’ve ever heard of, Jongin,” he stated plainly.

Baguette was wagging her tail violently now, thumping at Kyungsoo’s back repeatedly.

Jongin shoved at the gates, blowing up his cheeks like a child. “No, it’s not. Let me in and I’ll show you how fun it can be,” he replied petulantly.

And against all of his good sense and knowing full well how ridiculous they were going to look later on, Kyungsoo proceeded to plant Baguette gently on the ground to unlock the gates properly for Jongin to come in.

He picked up the picnic basket and entered the premises, walking right onto the grass with Baguette skipping after him happily. Jongin turned in a full circle, looking for a good spot and also giving Kyungsoo a full three sixty degrees’ view of just how good he looked tonight.

“The grass is damp, Jongin, I just watered the lawn two hours ago,” Kyungsoo called, locking the gates once more because he didn’t want to get robbed while they were on Jongin’s ludicrous idea of a picnic.

Jongin placed the basket down without heeding Kyungsoo’s words and picked Baguette up, squishing her gently between his hands in greeting. Kyungsoo walked over to join them, feeling kinda sour since he did spend at least fifteen minutes (more than he ever needed to in his entire life) to decide on what to wear for this not-so-auspicious occasion.

And the picnic basket looked pretty light when Jongin was holding it, so he wouldn’t even bat an eye if it was just full of treats for Baguette and just a packet of chips for the both of them.

“Don’t worry about the wet grass, hyung,” Jongin looked over his shoulder as he cuddled Baguette to his chest. “I brought a cloth for us to sit on and everything. Paper plates too,” Jongin added, as if he already knew what Kyungsoo was thinking.

Begrudgingly, Kyungsoo had to admit Jongin actually seemed pretty prepared for this picnic. Once he was done showering Baguette with love, Jongin got down on his knees, probably dirtying his jeans in the process, to flip the basket open. He dragged out the cloth Kyungsoo assumed he was talking about and shook it out, inching backwards a bit to lay it on the ground at the right spot. Kyungsoo just stood aside numbly as Jongin moved about.

“Jongin, this cloth is big enough to fit five people,” Kyungsoo pointed out when the whole cloth covered a big patch of the wet grass. Baguette managed to slide under one of its corners and began to move from left to right under the cloth like a suspicious lump.

“I know. I got it from Baekhyun’s mom. Wasn’t easy to get all this stuff together,” Jongin laughed lightly, bringing out more things from the basket and setting them on the cloth. Among the things was a table lamp (absolutely ridiculous looking, considering everything else), paper plates, cups and napkins, and one small, foldable stool (even more ridiculous than the lamp).

“Jongin, I don’t think you quite grasp the traditional concept of a picnic,” Kyungsoo started to say, getting down on his knees reluctantly.

“Sure I do. I just brought some extra stuff because it’s pretty dark here, and I wanted to make sure everything was just perfect,” Jongin replied. As Kyungsoo inched closer, he could smell pizza, and his instincts proved him correct when Jongin took out two large boxes of pizza from the basket.

His spirits were only dampened by a packet of dog treats on top of the first pizza box, but Kyungsoo could overlook that, thanks to the pizza. And this was more than Kyungsoo ever thought Jongin would do.

“But Jongin, you don’t have a plug to turn on the lamp—”

“It works with Bluetooth, hyung. I can light it up with my phone,” Jongin said reassuringly. Kyungsoo took the pizza boxes from him while Jongin fiddled with the lamp, just in time for Baguette to finally emerge from under the cloth and scamper over to sniff at the pizza inquisitively.

“No pizza for you,” Kyungsoo said warningly, “all you’re gonna get are treats tonight,” he waved the packet of treats tantalizingly above Baguette’s head. She stared at it for a moment, and sat down obediently.

“Aw, that’s so cute, hyung,” Jongin gushed, the lamp flickering on. It was one of those lamps with a neck that could bend into any direction, and Jongin adjusted it at an angle so light shone over the expanse of the cloth and they could see everything a little more clearly.

“I still don’t understand why we’re having a picnic in my front yard, Jongin,” Kyungsoo said honestly.

He looked around for a spot to put the pizza boxes down on while he spoke, and Jongin patted on the stool. “This is going to have to be our table for now, hyung,” he smiled. It was just the right height, though a little small, and Kyungsoo set the large pizza boxes over it carefully in case it tipped over.

Jongin busied himself as he replied Kyungsoo, “Also, we’re not just having a picnic tonight, hyung. I mean, I wanted to feed you this time because you’re always cooking food for me and everything, but we’re also going to do something else after we eat.”

“What are we going to do?” Kyungsoo asked, a little less excited than two seconds ago. _Play with Baguette and feed her treats if she’s extra cute?_ he thought grimly. Which wasn’t an entirely bad idea, but it wasn’t a whole new concept to Kyungsoo anymore. Baguette had her charms, but Kyungsoo also had her for two years already.

“We’re going to stargaze, hyung,” Jongin said softly.

Kyungsoo stopped and looked at him. Jongin bit on his lower lip, obviously trying to see if Kyungsoo liked the idea. And to be honest, Kyungsoo was… okay with that, he supposed. It’d be something new, and he didn’t mind doing anything with Jongin.

“Stargaze, huh?”

“Mm,” Jongin nodded, handing Kyungsoo a paper plate.

He took it, opening up the pizza box. It was pepperoni and cheese, his favourite. “It sounds a little gay but why not?” And he could’ve sworn that if Jongin had a tail, it’d be wagging like there was no tomorrow.  

They spent the next half hour trying to avoid Baguette as she tried to get a piece of pizza out of them, holding their paper plates as high as possible. Kyungsoo kicked off his slippers and dug them into the soft cloth as they chatted about mundane stuff, settling nicely with the firmly shut pizza boxes set on the stool between himself and Jongin.

It felt really dumb to be sitting there right at his front lawn, pretending they were on some cute picnic when everything felt like it had been cut from different places and glued altogether sloppily, from the Bluetooth lamp and the front lawn. Cars kept turning into the street and washed them with headlights, ruining the vibe just as Kyungsoo would start to get used to it. But Jongin kept cracking stupid jokes that Kyungsoo couldn’t help laughing at while they ate, and he was considerate enough to remember to fling treats across the lawn for Baguette to chase after every once in a while.

Jongin’s such a nice, gorgeous hunk of meat, Kyungsoo thought a little sadly, chewing on the thick crust of his pizza slice.

“Aren’t you having fun?” Jongin asked, smiling far too victoriously for Kyungsoo’s taste. “Yeah, I am,” Kyungsoo nodded, pretending to glance over his shoulder to see how Baguette was doing. She was alright, of course, chewing and gnawing away on her new treat.

“Good. And if you’re thirsty, hyung, I have refreshments prepared too,” Jongin said. 

“Oh. Well, I guess I don’t mind having a—” Jongin reached a hand into the basket and brought out a bottle of wine.

“…Drink,” Kyungsoo finished lamely, “Why did you bring wine?” he frowned, mildly confused. Could this night get any more out of hand? Jongin placed it down, looking into the basket for something else.

“Because it’s a nice night, hyung. And you can drink, right?” he asked, pausing momentarily with his hand in the basket.

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, swallowing the last of his pizza slice down his throat. “Yeah, sure. Kinda risky that you didn’t check with me first though. What if I’m a lightweight and I can’t hold my liquor well?” he asked, watching Jongin bring out a corkscrew and stab it into the cork of the wine bottle.

“Well,” he grunted as he twisted the corkscrew, “I’d still offer you a drink out of courtesy.”

Kyungsoo snorted, chuckling lightly. _Of course you would_ , Kyungsoo thought. Jongin was thoughtful and polite that way; whoever Jongin would fall in love with someday would be the luckiest human being in the entire world. He was certain Jongin would be the best kind of boyfriend out there, judging from the way he was treating Kyungsoo right now.

 _This is him just being nice. I can’t even imagine him being romantic_ , Kyungsoo thought. He eyed Jongin carefully, watching him struggle with the wine bottle for a bit. Even in the dim light, he still looked pretty, far too good looking to be in close proximity to Kyungsoo. He didn’t think he’d ever find a word in the dictionary to describe the perfection that was Jongin.

Without any warning, he felt his emotions bubble up inside of him and for a horrifying moment, Kyungsoo could feel tears brimming in his eyes. He pretended to rub at them quickly, trying to get a hold of himself.

The wine bottle popped open beside Kyungsoo as he tried to wipe at his stupid eyes, and Jongin was soon smiling in triumph. “Got it. You wanna have the first taste, hyung?” Jongin asked. Kyungsoo blinked and looked up at Jongin, who quirked an eyebrow in question.

“S-Sure,” he stammered, fumbling around for the paper cups. He held it out and allowed Jongin to pour the red liquid into the cup halfway, and reached out with the second cup for Jongin. When they were done, Jongin took one of the cups carefully from Kyungsoo, smiling silently in thanks and they sipped at it tentatively. It tasted pretty good.

“This tastes more like grape vinegar than wine,” Kyungsoo remarked, swirling the wine in his paper cup.

It felt kind of cheap to be sipping wine out of something made of paper, but then again who was he trying to impress? (Obviously not Jongin.) The mugs in his house were no better anyway.

“Hm, it does, right? Baekhyun recommended it to me. He said it tasted good… Glad he wasn’t lying,” Jongin replied, and Kyungsoo laughed.

“You sound like you hang around a lot with friends,” Kyungsoo said, maybe a little enviously. After all, no one in high school really wanted to be friends with the ‘math genius’, and most of the people in his college was just like him; too shy, unwilling to say anything to another first. Yixing was the only exception, who didn’t seem to give a damn about how shy people might be and was friendly to just about everyone.

“I guess I do,” Jongin nodded, “don’t you?” he asked, lying halfway down on his back and leaning on his elbows to look up at Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo blinked. “I… don’t, not really. If you hadn’t noticed, I’m home a lot and there’s rarely enough time to go out and socialize anyway,” he replied dryly, taking a sip at his wine.

Jongin’s gaze felt heavier from the way he was leaning on his arms, looking up at Kyungsoo with his warm, brown eyes. He couldn’t quite look at Jongin, especially when he was acting this way but _fuck_ , Kyungsoo wanted more than anything else in that moment to be someone Jongin adored, because this one-sided crush he was nursing was starting to feel pretty shit.

Probably gonna need more wine if I’m going to get through this alive, Kyungsoo thought, downing the rest of the wine in one gulp.

“Whoa,” Jongin lifted an eyebrow playfully, “things are taking a serious turn now.” Kyungsoo kicked at Jongin’s calf lightly to shut him up, blushing just a little. Jongin had no idea what he was talking about, he wasn’t the one here with a big, fat crush on someone who only seemed attracted to dogs and not their owners.

“Just pour me some more wine, please,” Kyungsoo held out his cup. Baguette climbed gingerly and plopped herself down on Kyungsoo’s lap, nuzzling into his shirt. He caressed her fur gently as Jongin poured him a full cup of wine, almost full to the brim.

“So, back to the topic of friends,” Jongin continued, “don’t you have friends at your college? What about that guy who sent you home the other day?”

Kyungsoo waved a hand. “Yixing’s nice, but he’s friends with pretty much everybody. Hell, if he stopped by right now, you’d probably feel like he was your long lost best friend in less than ten minutes into a conversation.”

“So there’s no one else?” Jongin asked, as if he couldn’t quite believe it. Kyungsoo took a sip at his wine. This conversation was turning down a direction that Kyungsoo wasn’t sure if he felt completely comfortable talking about with Jongin. He probably could never fathom the idea of not having many friends; Jongin was, after all, friendly and really, really nice. (Evident from the good wine and even better company.) Kyungsoo couldn’t have been the only one to have noticed that.

“No one,” Kyungsoo shook his head in affirmation. Jongin looked like he couldn’t quite believe it, but he didn’t press on it.

“What about you though? If you have a ton of friends then I’m sure you’re bound to have someone interested in you, right?” Kyungsoo laughed to change the subject. It sounded more bitter than he’d like, but it was something that he wanted to know anyway.

Jongin tipped his head to one side. “I don’t think so. No one’s said anything anyway…” he trailed off. Kyungsoo thought he sounded somewhat uncertain, as if he wasn’t sure about his answer _. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone he knew made their feelings obvious to him,_ Kyungsoo thought.

Someone prettier, friendlier, thinner, more open with Jongin than Kyungsoo ever could be. Someone that Jongin could like in return.

“I’m sure you’ll find someone,” Kyungsoo said. He pretended to sip at more wine, looking down into his cup. Jongin didn’t seem to notice, swallowing some wine down his throat as well.

They sat there for a few minutes without saying anything. Jongin looked a little lost in his thoughts, while Kyungsoo felt far too miserable for himself to say anything more. He didn’t know how he was supposed to keep up his act, pretending he felt nothing for Jongin when there he was, lying there casually and looking prettier than ever.

“Wait, hyung, I almost forgot,” Jongin abruptly snapped his head up.

“What?”

“We were supposed to stargaze,” Jongin smiled widely, setting his cup down on an even spot on the grass. “Oh, right,” Kyungsoo blinked in surprise. A little stargazing could do him good; maybe they could answer the universal question, _why, oh why, is Kim Jongin so fine?_

Jongin was already moving everything to one side, making space for the both of them in the middle of the cloth he’d laid out. Kyungsoo took one last swig of wine and drank it all up, placing the cup on top of the pizza boxes. He supposed he should’ve felt grateful towards Jongin for bringing wine tonight; a sober Kyungsoo wouldn’t do well, lying on the grass to stare at twinkly little things in the sky for no bloody reason.

Kyungsoo felt all the blood rushing up to his head as he laid down, adjusting himself to make sure he was well out of Jongin’s personal space. Not many stars were out tonight, but if he squinted a little bit, he could probably spot a few more.

Meanwhile, Jongin didn’t seem to share the same idea about personal space as Kyungsoo; he laid down right next to him, their shoulders and arms coming in contact with one another. Kyungsoo held his breath as Jongin shifted here and there beside him, their arms brushing far too many times for Kyungsoo’s liking. Did Jongin even realize the things he was doing to Kyungsoo’s dead, unbeating heart?

He was bringing it back to fucking life, that was what, and Kyungsoo didn’t even want to feel all these… _feelings_. In fact, he’d like it very much if he didn’t feel the warmth emanating from Jongin at all.

“Are you feeling dizzy, hyung?” Jongin asked, turning to look at him.

“Not nearly enough,” Kyungsoo gave him a tight smile. He laced his fingers together and placed them on his stomach, keeping them well within his own bubble of personal space.

“Well, let me know if you’re getting tired, hyung. I wouldn’t want to keep you up too late,” Jongin said softly. _No, you wouldn’t_ , Kyungsoo thought. He wouldn’t, because Kyungsoo knew he was such a gentleman that way.

“Hm. So tell me what are we supposed to be looking at. Is that like, Scorpio or something?” Kyungsoo randomly pointed up at the sky on his left.

“No,” Jongin laughed, “I’m not entirely sure about _that_ star, but I know this one,” Jongin said, pointing straight ahead.

“Oh?” Kyungsoo rubbed his eyes.

Alcohol always made him feel just a tiny bit sleepy. His heartrate, on the other hand, was picking up so loudly, he could hear it in his ears. Whether or not it was because of Jongin, he really couldn’t say.

“Yeah. Do you see this one right here, that one over there and another above it?” Jongin said, holding out both hands to point in opposite directions.

“No,” Kyungsoo said honestly. There were like twenty stars up in the sky, not including the tiny ones that Kyungsoo wasn’t sure if they were even considered stars. How the hell was he supposed to differentiate from this star to that star? And there was his astigmatism to consider…

Jongin paused for a moment, possibly sensing Kyungsoo’s dilemma, and went on: “Well, these three are called Altair, Vega and Deneb. And on July seventh—”

“Chilseok, you mean?” Kyungsoo interrupted Jongin.

“Yup,” Jongin replied with a smile. “You know how the story goes, right? The one about the cow herder and weaver?” 

Kyungsoo nodded.

“Well, they’re represented by Altair and Vega here, two out of the three stars that make up this summer triangle,” Jongin said, drawing an imaginary triangle outline in the sky.

Kyungsoo thought he could see the stars parting out of the way for Jongin’s fingers as he moved them from corner to corner.

“That’s cute. But there’re a few variations on the story… Which one is your favourite?” he asked Jongin, just to listen to the sound of his voice. Kyungsoo’s mother used to tell him bedtime stories, and the story behind the celebration of Chilseok festival was just one of them.

The story always started the same way; a cow herder and a weaver fell in love, only to be caught by the weaver’s father or in some versions, the Jade Emperor. Some versions even say that they were in love, but grew lazy in their marriage. Regardless, they were both torn apart, the cow herder thrown to the west side of the Milky Way, and the weaver on the east. However, they were permitted to meet once a year on the seventh of July, and so magpies would flock up to the sky and create a bridge for the star-crossed lovers, reuniting them for just one night.

It was all quite romantic and all, but Kyungsoo thought it was just a load of crap. And why was Jongin even talking about this?

“I think I like the version where they cry tears of joy each time they meet, and it falls as rain down onto Earth. It’s kinda sad and romantic, don’t you think?” Jongin asked.  

Kyungsoo sniffled. “I think it just shows how much of a sap you are,” he replied, blushing. He didn’t want to talk about anything remotely romantic with Jongin; he was cutting it way too close with this topic, especially given his current state. Thank God it was dark at that moment and they’d been drinking; at least Kyungsoo could play his blush off as being slightly drunk.

“I dunno, hyung. I just find it so cool that people can be so in love, and it manifests into something more than an abstract concept. It becomes tears, the tears fall as rain, and in turn it becomes a legend…

“Don’t you think so, hyung?” Jongin asked abruptly.

Kyungsoo gave the only blasé response he could manage; a shrug. “I don’t know what love is, Jongin. I don’t think I’ve really experienced it so… I don’t know what to say.”

He thought it was a pretty good answer, until Jongin looked at him for a long moment, long enough that it made Kyungsoo a little self-conscious under his unblinking gaze.

Kyungsoo tried to snap at him, but all that came out was a nervous “W-what?”

Damn it all, the wine was starting to sink in. He felt ten times more anxious than usual all of a sudden. 

A slow smile spread across Jongin’s lips, and he shook his head.

“I… It’s nothing.”

Kyungsoo decided not to press on it, but he couldn’t quite shake off the feeling of Jongin’s gaze burning holes into his face. It was unnerving, as if Jongin was looking right into Kyungsoo’s soul and seeing all of his secrets, unspoken crush included.

They laid there for a minute or two without saying anything to one another. Kyungsoo dug his toes into the cloth nervously, nerves getting the best of him. Is Jongin mad or something? he thought. He wasn’t saying anything, just looking up at the sky like it was the most interesting thing he’d ever seen.

But Kyungsoo didn’t really mean anything by that answer, and it was the truth nonetheless. He’d never wanted to pursue a relationship before Jongin came around.

 _And I probably just ruined what little chance I had with him_ , Kyungsoo thought, furrowing his eyebrows together. Good God, flirting was harder than Kyungsoo imagined. He sat up, a wave of dizziness washing over him and darkening his vision for a few seconds. Kyungsoo blinked it away and reached for more wine, pouring himself another cup.

“You want some more?” he asked Jongin out of habit, before biting on his tongue.

“Sure,” Jongin mumbled. Kyungsoo handed him his refilled cup when he heard Jongin sitting up. They drank a little, and seeing as they’d hardly done any stargazing, Kyungsoo flopped back down. Jongin looked at him in mild surprise, the edge of the cup grazing his bottom lip.

“You’re not bored, hyung?” he asked.

Kyungsoo shook his head. How could he be, when Jongin looked this beautiful, when he’d already had this much wine and when there were this many stars up in the sky? (He was royally fucked.)

So Jongin laid back down when he was done with the wine, and Kyungsoo listened.

 

 

-

 

 

It must’ve been a few drinks later when Jongin realized that Kyungsoo was leaning his head on his shoulder, giggling noiselessly with his eyes scrunched shut. He’d never seen Kyungsoo smile so widely in all the months he’d spent trying to make him smile, and he’d never wanted to kiss Kyungsoo so badly.

He’d been trying all those months to break down Kyungsoo’s walls, but if he knew that a little wine was all it took, Jongin would’ve done this a long time ago.

“You are _so_ fuckin’ stupid,” Kyungsoo continued laughing, covering his face with his hand. Jongin couldn’t even remember what they were talking about anymore.

“I know,” Jongin chuckled, ruffling Kyungsoo’s hair even though he knew Kyungsoo hated it. Kyungsoo laughed some more and buried his face into Jongin’s shoulder; Jongin threaded his fingers through the dark strands of Kyungsoo’s hair maybe a little longer than he should have.

Kyungsoo slapped him away a few seconds later than normal, and Jongin took his hand away, looking down at Kyungsoo as he rolled to drape himself halfway over Jongin. His eyes were a little unfocused as he peered at Jongin with a serious expression on his face, abruptly sombre.

“I could beat the shit out of you, Jongin,” he said, rather clearly for someone who’d been drinking for the past hour or so. Jongin was extremely glad he’d thought to bring two wine bottles instead of just one.

“I know, hyung,” Jongin smiled fondly, and brushed his fingers across Kyungsoo’s cheek just because Kyungsoo looked young with his hair falling into his eyes.

Jongin wasn’t quite aware of what happened next, but a second later, Kyungsoo was heaving himself upwards, hands curling around Jongin’s neck. And stupidly enough, all Jongin managed to do in that split second was widen his eyes in fear of what Kyungsoo would do to him before he felt Kyungsoo’s lips brushing over his, feather light and gentle. It happened way too fast for Jongin, too fast for him to feel anything, and the next thing he knew, Kyungsoo was already moving off of him.

Jongin blinked. “Kyungsoo hyung, what—”

“Watch Baguette for me,” Kyungsoo said tiredly, curling up into Jongin’s side and shutting his eyes.

“No, but wait, hyung,” Jongin sputtered in protest. Kyungsoo clearly didn’t give a fuck anymore; he placed his head on Jongin’s chest firmly and neither said nor did anything else.

 _Oh my God_ , Jongin thought. It was a dream come true, but this was a little more than he asked for. He couldn’t tell if he was supposed to do as Kyungsoo said, or just remain there and keep him warm.

 _Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod_ , Jongin looked around in bewilderment.

“Baguette?” Jongin called as loud as he dared, turning as best as he could with Kyungsoo lying over him. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t thought about Baguette ever since he brought out the wine and Kyungsoo would probably slice Jongin in the morning if Baguette went missing.

Luckily for him, her head popped up near Jongin’s right leg, her eyes only half open, and Jongin sighed thankfully in relief. _Oh, thank God_ , he thought, dropping his head back down on the ground. Jongin patted Kyungsoo lightly, draping an arm over him. It had been one hell of a night.

And as if Kyungsoo knew Jongin was just thinking about the kiss and trying to relive the moment in his head, Kyungsoo muttered, “Shut up, Jongin,” under his breath. Jongin bit down on a smile.

 

 

-

 

 

There were birds chirping, and that was what jerked Kyungsoo awake because he’d never woken up to the sound of birds tweeting outside his window before. It was bright all around him, far too bright, and his pillow was a little larger than usual—

Kyungsoo gasped loudly when he looked down and found a sleeping Jongin instead of white, crumpled sheets. He scrambled backwards, putting distance between himself and Jongin, before he bumped into something. Kyungsoo turned, and gasped </i>again</i> in horror when he saw the wine bottle lying on its side, red liquid spilling out of it and onto the grass.

“Shit, shit,” Kyungsoo muttered, righting the bottle. His hands came away wet and smelling of grapes, and he groaned when he noticed the wine soaking into the one corner of the cloth.

“Ugh,” he grumbled, folding the wet corner hastily and rolling it away from the puddle of wine. It was already starting to seep into the grass anyway, so he deemed it as a lost cause and sat on his haunches, sighing at the mess he’d just made. He wasn’t even fully awake, for God’s sake. Kyungsoo was _so_ not ready for this much shit just yet.

“Okay, so I’ll just wake Jongin up first,” he told himself, moving around gingerly. His head was throbbing a little, giving him a headache but it wasn’t too bad. Well, not yet anyway. But first, how did Jongin even end up sleeping on his lawn _again_?

Kyungsoo inched over to Jongin carefully, trying to recall whatever had happened the night before. There was pizza for dinner, treats for Baguette, dumb stories and myths about the constellations in the sky, a lot of laughing… _Oh no, there was wine_ , Kyungsoo thought in dismay.

No wonder he slept so well throughout the night by Jongin’s side. He would never have crossed that line if he’d been fully sober or at least, only a little drunk.

“Jongin,” Kyungsoo poked Jongin’s side experimentally. Nothing.

“Jongin,” Kyungsoo tried again, a little louder this time. All he got was a sniff and a grunt out of the boy, who looked way too good despite the fact that he was sleeping.

He took a deep breath. “Jongin, wake _up_ or I’m going to beat the living shit out of you till you do—” Kyungsoo suddenly paused, hand in midair, about to land a hit right on Jongin’s chest.

 _Beat the living shit out of him_ … Now that was odd. Kyungsoo felt struck by a bout of déjà vu, and for some reason, he felt a little uneasy. Did he accidentally knock Jongin out cold last night? It couldn’t be though, because then Jongin would’ve been dead instead of sleeping on Kyungsoo’s lawn…

 _“Oh_ ,” Kyungsoo realized, the horror of what he’d done hitting him full in the face. _Oh no_ , Kyungsoo thought.

Good Lord, but Kyungsoo must’ve been the biggest idiot alive last night because _how could I do that?_ He looked down at Jongin’s peaceful sleeping face, wondering what he’d think of Kyungsoo once he woke up. Jongin had to have been drunk last night too, that had to be the only reason why he was still here on Kyungsoo’s lawn.

“Oh my God, what do I do?” Kyungsoo said, panic rising in his chest. To wake Jongin or not? TO RISK A LIFETIME WORTH OF SHAME OR NOT?

And before Kyungsoo could even come to a decision, Baguette sprang out of nowhere behind Kyungsoo, barking at the top of her tiny voice at some people walking past the gates.

Kyungsoo had no choice but to shake Jongin violently awake, rousing out of his sleep just enough to hiss, “Wake up, we’re on my fucking front yard!” Jongin was of no help; all he did was groan and grunt on the ground at being shaken awake.

“Oy, are you uh, Kyungsoon?” a guy’s voice called out above Baguette’s incessant barking. Kyungsoo turned, even though that clearly wasn’t his name and spotted a tall, lanky guy waving at him at his front gate, a few other guys standing behind him. The tall guy looked like he could be around Kyungsoo’s age, sporting a snapback and dirty Chuck Taylors.

“Yeah?” Kyungsoo called back uncertainly.

“Is that Jongin?” he asked, pointing at Jongin down on the ground. Jongin made a noise in his throat at the sound of his name, stretching out on the cloth languidly. Some of the guy’s friends snickered at that and laughed among themselves.

“Um, yes,” Kyungsoo replied. Were they Jongin’s friends, here to collect him? In which case, Kyungsoo would gladly dump Jongin right over to them, because he didn’t really feel like facing him right at this moment—

“Oh, great! Kyungsoon, nice to meet you, I’m Chanyeol and this is Baekhyun, Jongdae, Luhan, Sehun…” he rattled off with names that Kyungsoo didn’t quite catch, and the next thing he knew, these guys were jumping _over_ his front gate like Olympic athletes and hurrying over across the lawn. Baguette was just as surprised as Kyungsoo was, scampering around in amazement. She probably had never seen this many people in her entire life.

“Shit, Jongin wasn’t joking, Baguette’s really cute,” one of the guys gushed. He was one of the first few to jump over the gate, and he was wearing so much eyeliner Kyungsoo wondered if he had trouble seeing as he bent over to pick up Baguette.

The rest of the guys came over to Kyungsoo’s side, crowding around him and Jongin curiously, assessing him from head to toe.

“So you’re Kyungsoon,” one of them said, holding out a hand. His cheekbones were so sharp, Kyungsoo couldn’t quite believe he was real as they shook hands. “It’s Kyungsoo, actually,” Jongin corrected him from the ground.

“Kyungsoo,” they said in unison, looking at each other and nodding.

“Okay, wait, I’m sorry, what’s going on here again?” Kyungsoo said, looking down at Jongin.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Jongin, get up already,” Kyungsoo complained, tugging him up forcefully.

“Well, I think I can tell who’s the bottom in this relationship,” the cheekbones boy said, lifting an eyebrow suggestively. Kyungsoo already wanted to hit the guy, and it had been barely five minutes since he’d met him.

Jongin stood up, patting his pants clean. Kyungsoo removed his hand hurriedly, in case these guys interpreted it wrongly. Jongin seemed to be drunk still, because he looked around at the guys and said, “What are you guys doing here?”

Eyeliner boy spoke up: “Duh, to celebrate. You sealed the deal with him, right?”

Kyungsoo was immediately suspicious. “What deal?” he questioned Jongin.

“Uh—”

“Spill it, tell us what happened last night,” one said in accented Korean. Kyungsoo thought he sounded like a native Chinese, but he couldn’t be too sure.

Jongin held his hands up. “Look, before I tell you guys anything, I think you’re coming on a little too strong on Kyungsoo here—”

“Oh, he’s going to be spending a lot of time with us anyway from now on. Also, you’re making lunch right?” the tall one asked.

Kyungsoo looked at him and said plainly, “What?”

“I’m down for free food any time,” one of the taller guys shrugged his broad shoulders. 

“There’s not many dog-friendly restaurants in the area anyway so lunch at Kyungsoo’s place actually sounds pretty great—” Kyungsoo held up a hand before eyeliner boy could continue.

“I’m not making lunch for anyone till I figure all of this out,” he said threateningly.

“Figure what out?” bored-with-broad-shoulders asked, a trace of interest flickering over his expression.

“Yeah, figure what out? I thought Jongin had already clinched the deal, is this a joke or something—”

“Hyung, do you mind if I have a word with you?” Jongin said pleadingly when he noticed Kyungsoo widening his eyes in horror. Jongin had the nerve to look sheepish as he wrapped a hand around Kyungsoo’s wrist and gently pulled him away from the group, near the tool shed where Jongin had puked on Kyungsoo’s feet the first time they met.

Jongin sighed, “Hyung, I’m sorry, these are my friends and—”

“What are they doing on my yard?” Kyungsoo asked, glancing over at them. They seemed to be bickering over where to eat now, and eyeliner boy had passed Baguette over to the tall guy.

“I think they think I already, um. No, wait, they’re just here because they wanted me to go for lunch with them but I forgot,” Jongin said, wincing when the Chinese boy smacked eyeliner boy over the head.

“Okay, but what deal are they talking about, and how do they know my name? No, most importantly, how do they know where I live?” Kyungsoo asked, all the questions rushing out of his mouth faster than Jongin could answer him.

Jongin held up his hands. “They know your name because I’ve talked about you. But only to Chanyeol and Baekhyun, I swear, they must’ve told everyone in the dorm house last night—”

Oh, Kyungsoo lifted an eyebrow. That explained it all; so these were the fuckboys who threw that crazy party the other night at the dorm house. Jongin seemed to notice the change in Kyungsoo’s expression and hurriedly said, “No, no, no, they’re not going to trash your house or something, I promise they won’t, hyung. I’ll get rid of them now if you want me to,” he added, sounding like he was on the verge of desperation.

That was a lovely idea, until the tall idiot waved at them with both hands and said, “Hey, we’re gonna go inside first, if that’s okay with y’all. Seems like you guys need a minute and I think we’ll just settle down till you guys are ready to come inside.”

With that, everyone made a beeline to Kyungsoo’s front door while bickering over who should carry Baguette, leaving Jongin and Kyungsoo in real peace. Kyungsoo wanted to protest, but since they were out of the way for now it seemed as good a time as anyway to talk to Jongin privately, while he had the chance.

“Okay, Jongin, I don’t— I’m not like, super mad at you or whatever but wait, I need to tell you something. Do you… remember what happened last night?” he asked slowly.

Jongin stopped. “Which part?” he asked in return.

Kyungsoo bit on his lip. Either way, he couldn’t see how he might get out of this with their friendship intact. But he didn’t want to risk Jongin remembering at some point later in the day or at a later time, possibly making everything awkward. No, he had to come clean now because he couldn’t live with this any longer.

He inhaled once, and blurted, “The part where I assaulted you.”

Jongin cocked his head to one side slowly. “Assaulted me…?”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo nodded frantically. “Assaulted you. Attacked you. Took advantage of you. Jumped on you.” Jongin shook his head, frowning at Kyungsoo.

“Hyung, what are you saying?” he asked.

“Jesus, I fucking kissed you, Jongin!” Kyungsoo said angrily. “I don’t know what I was thinking, it must’ve been all the wine but it’s no excuse so I’m sorry, and I understand if you don’t want to talk to me anymore—”

“Hyung,” Jongin said, his tone so serious that Kyungsoo stopped to look up at him. He grabbed Kyungsoo’s arm with a hand and said, “Hyung, slow down. I know you kissed me. And I was kinda upset that you didn’t give me any time to kiss you back.”

Now it was Kyungsoo’s turn to stare up at Jongin. “J-Jongin, don’t fuck with me, this isn’t funny.”

“I agree, it isn’t funny at all,” Jongin insisted, no hint of laughter in his eyes. This was possibly the first time Kyungsoo had seen him look so serious since that one time he thought he injured Baguette while playing a little too roughly with her.

 “Jongin, do you— what are you saying right now?” Kyungsoo asked, voice cracking midsentence. He couldn’t wrap his head around what Jongin was saying because it couldn’t be what he thought he meant, Jongin was the brightest star in the sky while Kyungsoo was just one of those dots in the sky that you can’t make quite make it out to be a dim star or just an imaginary glimmer.

“Hyung, I… I like you. What do you think I was doing last night?” Jongin asked, looking a little hurt.

“I don’t know!” Kyungsoo wailed, “how the hell am I supposed to know?” He couldn’t believe his ears right now, and he kept looking around, expecting a whole team of cameramen to burst out onto the scene and reveal everything to be a great, big prank.

“Hyung, I was trying to confess to you last night. Then you— well y’know, and then you fell asleep before I ever found the right moment, but I thought you understood when I was telling you about Altair and Vega—”

“I didn’t even know which star you were pointing at last night,” Kyungsoo grumbled, and Jongin would obviously have the bloody nerve to start laughing like it was some kind of joke.

“Hyung,” Jongin wheezed between chokes of laughter, “you really didn’t know?”

How was Kyungsoo supposed to know anything when it came to Jongin? All Jongin ever did to Kyungsoo was mess him up in ways that he never imagined possible and make him feel like an emotionally unstable teenage boy. Kyungsoo was too overwhelmed to even speak at that point, and turned to stomp away from Jongin.

But Jongin, being the terrible person he was, grabbed at Kyungsoo’s wrist as he tried to walk off. “Wait, hyung, d-don’t walk off,” Jongin stammered. Kyungsoo didn’t shake him off, just turned away with some unfathomable emotion lodging itself in his throat.

“Kyungsoo hyung, are you mad at me?” Jongin asked softly, and Kyungsoo’s heart melted just a little inside because Jongin only ever rarely called him by name. To hear it now, out of all occasions, was like injecting a shot of adrenaline right into Kyungsoo’s veins.

“No, I’m not mad. I just think I need time—”

“So the kiss last night was a mistake?” Jongin asked, sounding disappointed.

“No, it wasn’t,” Kyungsoo retorted immediately, exasperated that Jongin would dare to think that that was a mistake. Well, it was in a way but Kyungsoo couldn’t honestly say he regretted kissing Jongin. As brief as it was, Kyungsoo couldn’t put the thought of Jongin’s petal soft lips out of his head. 

“If it isn’t then why are you walking away?” Jongin asked now, eyebrows disappearing under his fringe.

“I’m walking away because we can’t just drop everything and get married,” Kyungsoo frowned as if he were talking to a child, “I’m walking away because maybe you need to think this further.”

Jongin pulled at him again. “I don’t think I need to think any more about this, hyung. I like you, hyung. I always have,” Jongin breathed, and Kyungsoo couldn’t believe how sincere he could sound when here they were, standing and looking ridiculous on the front lawn as usual.

“I like how you’re taciturn and snappy on most days but I know you care for people deep inside,” Jongin went on, “and I love your cooking, hyung. I always tell you that because I just… never had the balls to say what was really on my mind. So,” he shrugged, “if you don’t want to date me, or see me again, that’s… fine, I guess, but. I’d like to take you out, hyung. It’d mean the world if you’ll give me that chance with you.”

Kyungsoo didn’t know what to say. Jongin looked at him expectantly, fingers warm around Kyungsoo’s wrist. Kyungsoo didn’t have much experience dealing with his dreams coming true, and to hear Jongin say this all at once felt like he was asking for far too much.

“Put the boy out of his misery already, would you?” someone moaned at them loudly. Belatedly, Kyungsoo remembered Jongin’s friends and glanced around; some of them were leaning out of the kitchen window and staring at Kyungsoo and Jongin blatantly with varying levels of boredom. The cheekbones boy was the one who spoke, and now he had a hand placed at his forehead in mock distress.

“Just say yes or no, so we know if we need to plan to go out for lunch or stay here,” said the one with accented Korean. They didn’t look overly pleased about being kept waiting with no food.

Kyungsoo took a deep breath. “I’m— Jongin, I don’t know how to say this but I think we— us—”

“Was that a yes?” Jongin asked excitedly.

“Y-yeah,” Kyungsoo nodded, heart rate accelerating once again. He couldn’t believe it, his mind couldn’t even process this but holy shit, Jongin wanted to ask him out and Kyungsoo was actually saying yes to his offer—

Jongin wrapped his arms around Kyungsoo in a tight bear hug, lifting him up into the air by an inch or two. Kyungsoo squawked indignantly and gripped Jongin frantically, head spinning from the sudden motion. “I’m sorry, hyung, I know you don’t like it when I touch you but I just had to,” Jongin said apologetically with his angelic smile on his face like he’d just won the lottery. 

“I don’t hate it when you touch me,” Kyungsoo mumbled, feet touching the ground as Jongin placed him back down.

“Okay. So can I kiss you again, hyung?” Jongin asked eagerly.

“S-sure,” Kyungsoo blushed, disconcerted by the fact that he didn’t think that was inappropriate at all. In fact, all of this was going against the principles he usually lived by, but then again Jongin had never been one to conform to anything Kyungsoo thought he’d be.

So Jongin leaned forward first this time, and Kyungsoo’s hands were trembling when Jongin was less than an inch away, lips touching Kyungsoo’s mouth for a second.

This time felt like a real kiss, like Kyungsoo was lighting up in fireworks on the inside. He didn’t remember much from last night, but sober Kyungsoo could feel everything now, and he dug his shaking fingers into Jongin’s shirt as Jongin pressed a little harder to deepen the kiss. Kyungsoo felt his cheeks burn when Jongin placed his hands on his hips, thumbs rubbing circles on the edge of his ribcage.

A few seconds, eternities later, Jongin broke away. Kyungsoo was breathless, and he could feel the red in his cheeks. “Was that too much?” Jongin asked curiously.

Kyungsoo shook his head, swallowing thickly. It was anything but. Jongin smiled.

“Good,” he huffed, hands lingering on Kyungsoo’s waist. Kyungsoo didn’t know why Jongin kept treating him like a child when he was the older one between them, but it felt… oddly soothing. Like he was appreciated, and Jongin could see Kyungsoo for who he was.

That was when a smash came from inside the house, and Kyungsoo whipped his head around.

“What was that?”

“Must be Chanyeol,” eyeliner boy replied, sighing happily, “I love me a good happy ending, Jongdae. Don’t you?”

Jongdae and Luhan were already done with staring at the pair of them outside on the front lawn, and were already heading back inside to tell everyone the news. Jongin glanced at Kyungsoo and mistook his silence for anger, placing a hand on his back and murmuring low in his ear, “Hyung, don’t be mad at my friends. I’ll help you clean up the mess, yeah?”

Kyungsoo’s chest gave a funny clench as he looked up at Jongin. Fuck, it was too early, _way_ too early to even read too much into this yet, but if this was what having a crush on Jongin felt like, then Kyungsoo couldn’t wait to be in love with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder if anyone will ever read this lol


End file.
